As usual, everything else is fine on my end. Tomorrow, I have no Bible study with Taka as he attends Liz and Paul's Bible study every other week. Instead, I'll be waking up early tomorrow morning to get to Osaka by 8:30. Osaka is one of the biggest cities in the southern region of Japan, as you may already know, and I'll be competing at a Super Smash Bros. tournament there. For those of you who don't know, Smash Bros. is a video game which I've been playing for a long time and enjoy playing competitively. In Waynesboro, I play this game with a large group of other guys--Tournaments and all. When I heard there was a tournament happening in Osaka, I signed up immediately. Japanese players are excellent at the game, though, so I sure won't have it easy. I've been practicing though, so wish me luck!
On Sunday, after church, I'll actually be going down to Osaka yet again. This time I'll be attending an orchestra. It's called the Gamer's Symphony and many of the greatest game composers of all time will be represented through some of their greatest works. I absolutely can't wait.
I'm having a pretty geeky weekend--But no shame! I'm glad I've been blessed with the time to do these fun things!
On Monday, which is usually a free day for me, I put something on my schedule. There is a girl named Shie that Marcy used to teach English to. Her and I met recently, and after some discussion decided we ought to meet semi-regularly and practice language. In addition to my current self-study, plus the class I'm currently taking on Wednesday, this will be a great addition to my Japanese-learning-repertoire. Other than that, not too much going on. Hope all is well on everyone else's end.
Today I studied with my Christian friend, Kei. We're going through Ephesians, and coming to Ephesians 3 we spoke a lot today about "[knowing] the love of Christ, which passeth all knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." This verse really got us on the subject of showing God's love to others in our own lives. One of the hardest ways we're called to do this is showing kindness and forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Sometimes things are easy to forgive. When someone accidentally spills a drink at your dinner table, or is ten minutes late to your dinner out, forgiveness is easy. On the other hand, a deceitful lover, an abusive parent, or a traitorous friend--These are instances where it is much harder to show such an attitude.
Still, God doesn't say anything about picking and choosing. We are to "bless those who persecute us" and "forgive others as God first loved us." If God forgave us an entire life of wretched sin, we can forgive anyone on earth--No matter how unforgivable the wrong may seem presently.
We also talked about how forgiving doesn't mean forgetting, and the two do not go hand in hand. Forgiveness means we cease to hate a person in our heart for their wrong doing, leaving their judgement to God and not ourselves. Depending on the offense, we should return kindness to wrongdoers, but God understands we are mere men and sometimes must be wary of our well-being.
Forgiving an abusive spouse, for example, doesn't mean you must return to them, neither does forgiving a back-stabbing friend mean that friendship can ever be truly repaired. God does not expect us to be foolish in our relations with others.
Thank God, then, that He forgives us in an even purer sense. Not only has He ceased seeking judgement on the souls of the Elect because of Christ, but is sanctifying us daily that we might one day eternally be in His direct presence without shame. We don't have the ability to perfect those who have wronged us--Thank God that He does.
"Yakiniku" (Japanese BBQ) with the Trims.
Rainy days are awesome for napping! :)
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